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The plateaux kits I've seen all look to have the stem hole drilled in such a way that the stem meets the rough part of the plateaux (rather than the block being faced square to allow the stem and shank to meet flush). Does this mean that if I want a smooth transition from stem to shank I need to face the block myself?

am I missing something here?

Yes. Freehand kits are generally not faced for a flush-fitting stem. Unless you have a lathe and pin gages, you're going to have a hard time facing the shank at exactly 90% from the pre-drilled mortise. You're probably better off starting with a plateaux block instead of pre-drilled block if that's what you plan to do.

Or rather, get a kit with a flush mounted stem and not a freehand kit.

Unless you really want plateaux on your bowl and not on your shank.

neither PIMO nor Vermontfreehand appear to differentiate their kits.
Perhaps its time I just drill my own...

calsbeek wrote:neither PIMO nor Vermontfreehand appear to differentiate their kits.
Perhaps its time I just drill my own...

Vermont states choice of plateaux or ebauchon in his kits, Plateaux means it's basically a free hand kit with the rough outer skin (for the lack of a better word)on it.
Ebauchon is a fully cut block without the outer rough skin and will be cut for a flush mount stem.
Drilling your own blocks is a learning experience and good start I think if you've done a couple of kits and feel comfortable using a drill press or have a lathe.

I have basic tools at home but my work place has a shop with a drill press, disc and belt sanders, a metal lathe, etc....
so I'm thinking I'll try my hand at this on the next go around. I've done one kit and have one more to work with.

I've gotten the impression that Ebauchon blocks are lower quality/grade. Is it not the case? In other words, when the experienced pipe makers here produce flush mount stems are they ebauchon's or simply plateaux that you've all faced for flesh-mounts yourselves?

is the alternative (military?) an attractive finished product? I don't see many people posting examples....

calsbeek wrote:I have basic tools at home but my work place has a shop with a drill press, disc and belt sanders, a metal lathe, etc....
so I'm thinking I'll try my hand at this on the next go around. I've done one kit and have one more to work with.

I've gotten the impression that Ebauchon blocks are lower quality/grade. Is it not the case? In other words, when the experienced pipe makers here produce flush mount stems are they ebauchon's or simply plateaux that you've all faced for flesh-mounts yourselves?

is the alternative (military?) an attractive finished product? I don't see many people posting examples....

I believe, but, don't quote me, that ebauchon's are cut from the inner of the briar knot/root and the plateaux's from the most outer.
I couldn't tell you for positive if one is of higher grade or not with my limited knowledge but, I believe the plateaux is of a higher grade.
But, lets face it, why spend the money on high grade blocks when we can only turn low to medium grade turds till we learn to know what we're doing.
That's a lot of expensive saw dust lying on the floor.

Plateaux is not inherently higher grade than ebauchon. If you look at the size of a full briar burl, you can see that blocks can't be cut in strict layers corresponding to grades. The only difference between plateaux and ebauchon is whether or not it has bumps, and generally, the grain orientation on ebauchon is opposite to plateaux. There isn't a difference in number of flaws or tightness of grain that's inherent to plateaux.

calsbeek wrote:neither PIMO nor Vermontfreehand appear to differentiate their kits.
Perhaps its time I just drill my own...

We can custom drill most any kit, just let us know the specs.
We also encourage you to get into drilling and have some affordable spade bits for chamber boring, and also some mini reject blocks of briar to get a feel of drilling and alignment (2.50 per block)

Drilled my first block from Vermont freehand today.